…at high-level meeting
THE Caribbean Community (CARICOM)  was yesterday assured of “real  outcomes and practical assistance” in the areas of climate change, disaster risk reduction, economic resilience and the strengthening of people- to- people and institutional links from the Government of Australia. Director-General of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Mr. Peter Baxter, gave the assurance at the opening ceremony of a high-level meeting involving CARICOM and Australia.
Flanked by Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM,  Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite; Secretary General, Dr Edwin Carrington; and Australian High Commissioner, Philip Kentwell ; the AusAID Director General  also committed that Australia will provide direct assistance to individual countries within CARICOM.
The opening ceremony, followed by discussions between the two sides, was convened at the CARICOM Secretariat, Liliendaal.
The discussions were expected to address a range of issues including a review of the progress of  the CARICOM/Australia Technical Cooperation for 2010-2011, as well as examine Australia’s support for regional integration, sustainable development and the situation facing Haiti.
In November, 2009, CARICOM and Australia’s then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the CARICOM-Australia programme of cooperation.
The meeting, held in Trinidad and Tobago, took place during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and one year on, there has been  “good progress” and “warm friendship”, the AusAID Director General noted yesterday.
He said, too, with the “enormous experience” Australia has accumulated through its partnership with countries in the Pacific region which face challenges similar to those within CARICOM, Australia hoped to build on those experiences in developing programmes that provide “practical assistance and deliver real outcomes” to the people of the Caribbean.
In his remarks, the CARICOM Secretary-General recalled the CARICOM-Australia relationship being bolstered in no small way by the regular interface at the political level, starting with the historic CHOGM meeting , followed by an encounter this year between CARICOM Foreign Ministers and Australia’s then Foreign Minister in Dominica at the Thirteenth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).
More recently, it was at the meeting of Foreign Ministers on the margin of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
Dr  Carrington recalled too that the first Plenipotentiary Representative to the Community in April 2009, at his accreditation, remarked that  “though CARICOM’s relationship with Australia is in its infancy, it is but a precocious infant, and the signs are that this relationship will be mutually meaningful, substantial and exemplary.”
He said the high-level discussions which followed the ceremony will place the spotlight on political issues on which CARICOM and Australia share an interest.
Touching on an important element of mutual interest, Haiti, the CARICOM Secretary General noted Australia’s prompt and substantial response in the wake of the devastating earthquake in January last.
That response was both directly to Haiti and  through CARICOM’s Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), an action which he said has been much appreciated by the Government and people of Haiti and by the Caribbean Community at large.
Furthermore, Australia’s commitment to contribute to the longer-term development of Haiti, in partnership with CARICOM, he said, is most welcome.
On this note, the Secretary General made mention  of Australia’s timely contribution of $1M to the United Nations Haiti Cholera Appeal to assist Haiti in the fight against the current cholera epidemic.
“We must commend your Government for recognizing the severity of this latest challenge in Haiti’s struggle towards recovery, and for its generosity which we hope will serve as a benchmark for other international donors. As we speak, a small CARICOM Preparatory Mission is in Haiti organising for a more substantial CARICOM Mission to visit in connection with the struggle against cholera.”
High Commissioner Kentwell,  meanwhile, drew attention to the extensive development cooperation programme between CARICOM and Australia which he described as “a strong platform of ongoing engagement.”
He likened the 2009 MOU  to a “centre piece” of Australia’s enhanced engagement and as a “significant first step” towards Australia demonstrating its determined interest to forge closer links with the region.
He said Australia is in the process of establishing a number of consulates headed by honorary consuls throughout the region for improved lines of communication and a more in-depth understanding and appreciation of the issues the countries in the region face.